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As Mexico works to implement energy reforms, the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) staff there has been working to educate end-users and energy policymakers on the advantages of using ethanol as an oxygenate in fuel.

Last year, Pemex announced its plan to introduce a first-ever pilot program to blend gasoline with ethanol. Since then, it has awarded a few contracts to local ethanol plants, though the relatively small-scale Mexican ethanol industry makes imports seem necessary to meet the country’s immediate fuel ethanol blending needs. This will likely create new opportunities for U.S. exports of ethanol to the market.

The growing interest for ethanol in the Asia-Pacific region is driven in part by ever-growing environmental concerns, especially those related to rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and deteriorating air quality, the direct results of rapidly-rising fossil fuel consumption across the region.

The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) hosted the first of two free workshops on how to use the GSM-102 financing program to facilitate the export of U.S. ethanol this week in Chicago.

New business transactions usually require a letter of credit prior to procurement or vessel loading. As a trading relationship develops through consecutive transactions, buyers with a strong balance sheet may no longer need a letter of credit.

Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Economic Research Service (ERS) indicates U.S. ethanol production during the 2014/2015 marketing year reached a record volume of 14.7 billion gallons (55 billion liters), which is up 3.9 percent from the previous year. Exports for the same time period were 872 million gallons (3.3 billion liters).

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), established in 2005 by the United States government, requires U.S. energy companies to blend renewable fuels like ethanol into petroleum-based transportation fuel. The target amount of conventional renewable fuel blending for 2016 is set at 14.5 billion gallons (54.8 billion liters), more than triple the target blend mandated when the program originated.

The United States has plenty of ethanol and is ready and willing to meet foreign market needs. As the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) works with its industry partners to develop markets and enable trade, ethanol, a grain-based renewable fuel, is growing in importance.

The U.S. Grains Council and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) have opened registration for free workshops in Chicago and Houston on how to use GSM-102 to facilitate the export of U.S. ethanol.

The programs were set up to assist the industry following the addition of U.S. ethanol to the list of commodities that can utilize the export credit guarantee program.

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